Celebrating the Nigerian entrepreneurial spirit by Seriki Florence, Founder Omatek Group

Like the biblical Joseph, entrepreneurs are dreamers. They have an uncanny ability to spot opportunities that are opaque to ordinary eyes. This is the story of Late Florence Seriki the tech Amazon behind the fast-growing Omatek brand.

While her mates were still pondering where to secure paid employment after their national youth service year, Florence’s entrepreneurial seed was already sown during her NYSC days. A graduate of Chemical Engineering of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University).

Florence knowledge of computer became handy during her service year at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in 1986.

Florence had trained her immediate boss, a director at NNPC on how to use a personal computer free of charge. The director, in turn, spread the good news to other directors who besieged Florence to train them. This little step opened the floodgates of computer training for corporate organizations for Florence who saw a business opportunity in computer training and plugged into it.

And thus Omatek was launched as a business concern immediately after her NYSC. Starting from just training, Omatek has grown from a little acorn into a giant oak spanning Omatek computers manufacturing, computer engineering and accessories and production of electrical materials and appliances. Omatek which has also spread its tentacles beyond Nigeria having opened offices in Ghana is also a key player in the power sector in Nigeria. It is on record that Omatek is the first ICT firm to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

With turnover running into billions of Naira annually and with thousands of people earning a living from the Omatek brand, Mrs Florence Seriki was indeed a source of inspiration and an enterprising icon worthy of celebration.